Overtones: New ways to make an album explored

Published: Friday, June 24, 2011 at 9:56 a.m.

Last Modified: Friday, June 24, 2011 at 9:56 a.m.

Eliza Lynn had never considered making an album this way. "This was the idea of a guy who I just met on the street in Asheville," she says.

"He became a huge fan of my music, and really supportive of it financially and otherwise. He was like, ‘What if you got everybody who loves your music to sponsor a song, and you did a cover album with Nanci Griffith's "Other Voices Other Rooms" (1993) as a template?' He was like, ‘I'll sponsor one, and I bet you can get ten other people to sponsor them.' "

"Together" is Lynn's fourth album, and Paul Campbell is the music enthusiast behind the plan — he's listed on the album as co-producer of Bill Morrisey's "Ellen's Tune," Doc Watson's "Life Is Like A River," and Dougie Maclean's "This Love Will Carry."

"This album's different than anything I've done. It's weightier, because it's not just my thing.

All these people have invested in the project, choosing their favorite songs, and it had so much meaning for them."

Lynn was born in Nashville, and grew up in Evanston, Illinois, balancing her time between gymnastics, dancing and singing. "My parents are from Georgia. We'd come south every year, and I always wanted to live in the mountains."

The mountains helped draw her to Warren Wilson College. "I lived out on Warren Wilson island for four years, just soaked up the experience," she says.

"Went to India and Africa, studied world religions, and played drums in the Common Ground Drum & Dance Ensemble. I took clawhammer banjo with Wayne Erbsen, and that helped me get more instrumentally focused."

After graduating from Wilson she worked at several non-musical jobs, including as Diabetes Wellness Coordinator for the Asheville YWCA. "That was an amazing opportunity," she says. "Oddly, it helped me understand that I had the skills to pursue music."

She switched to music full-time in 2005 and recorded "Frisky Or Fair," becoming an instant favorite among roots music fans in the area. In 2007 she released "The Weary Wake Up," and in 2008 had a track included on a Putumayo Records "Americana" compilation. "Haven" followed in 2009.

Lynn's father suffered a stroke a month before recording began for "Together."

"To have these songs, it was like everything else fell away and this project was the only thing that I could be slightly normal with," she says.

"Jeff [engineer Jeff Knorr] said the session was like a spiritual experience. It was unbelievable, the people involved, the musicians. We had so much music to record, and it was just an effortless, therapeutic thing that occurred. It was unbelievable."

"Together" was recorded at Collapseable Studios in Asheville. Will Straughan co-produced and wrote arrangements, in addition to playing dobro and lap steel. Jon Stickley added guitar and mandolin, Rayna Gellert played fiddle, and Alia Clary added vocals.

Lynn's mother, an Episcopal minister, co-sponsored the Old Crow Medicine Show song, "We're All In This Together," which became the title track, and features the line,"We're all in this thing together, walking the line between faith and fear." Her father, also a minister, co-produced James Cleveland's "Sit Down Servant."

"These songs are part of my repertoire forever," Lynn says. "‘I Hope You Dance,' a totally mainstream country thing, was wonderful to record and make our own. There's almost no electric — there's lap steel on one song — and it's just very sparsely and intimately produced.

"It was truly wild to me that as I made my first non-original album, the songs that were chosen were exactly the songs I needed."

Eliza Lynn performs at The Purple Onion in Saluda at 8 p.m. Saturday and at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Hendersonville at 8:30 and 11 a.m. Sunday. For more information visit www.elizalynn.com.

<p>Eliza Lynn had never considered making an album this way. "This was the idea of a guy who I just met on the street in Asheville," she says. </p><p>"He became a huge fan of my music, and really supportive of it financially and otherwise. He was like, 'What if you got everybody who loves your music to sponsor a song, and you did a cover album with Nanci Griffith's "Other Voices Other Rooms" (1993) as a template?' He was like, 'I'll sponsor one, and I bet you can get ten other people to sponsor them.' "</p><p>"Together" is Lynn's fourth album, and Paul Campbell is the music enthusiast behind the plan — he's listed on the album as co-producer of Bill Morrisey's "Ellen's Tune," Doc Watson's "Life Is Like A River," and Dougie Maclean's "This Love Will Carry."</p><p>"This album's different than anything I've done. It's weightier, because it's not just my thing. </p><p>All these people have invested in the project, choosing their favorite songs, and it had so much meaning for them."</p><p>Lynn was born in Nashville, and grew up in Evanston, Illinois, balancing her time between gymnastics, dancing and singing. "My parents are from Georgia. We'd come south every year, and I always wanted to live in the mountains."</p><p>The mountains helped draw her to Warren Wilson College. "I lived out on Warren Wilson island for four years, just soaked up the experience," she says. </p><p>"Went to India and Africa, studied world religions, and played drums in the Common Ground Drum & Dance Ensemble. I took clawhammer banjo with Wayne Erbsen, and that helped me get more instrumentally focused."</p><p>After graduating from Wilson she worked at several non-musical jobs, including as Diabetes Wellness Coordinator for the Asheville YWCA. "That was an amazing opportunity," she says. "Oddly, it helped me understand that I had the skills to pursue music."</p><p>She switched to music full-time in 2005 and recorded "Frisky Or Fair," becoming an instant favorite among roots music fans in the area. In 2007 she released "The Weary Wake Up," and in 2008 had a track included on a Putumayo Records "Americana" compilation. "Haven" followed in 2009.</p><p>Lynn's father suffered a stroke a month before recording began for "Together." </p><p>"To have these songs, it was like everything else fell away and this project was the only thing that I could be slightly normal with," she says. </p><p>"Jeff [engineer Jeff Knorr] said the session was like a spiritual experience. It was unbelievable, the people involved, the musicians. We had so much music to record, and it was just an effortless, therapeutic thing that occurred. It was unbelievable."</p><p>"Together" was recorded at Collapseable Studios in Asheville. Will Straughan co-produced and wrote arrangements, in addition to playing dobro and lap steel. Jon Stickley added guitar and mandolin, Rayna Gellert played fiddle, and Alia Clary added vocals.</p><p>Lynn's mother, an Episcopal minister, co-sponsored the Old Crow Medicine Show song, "We're All In This Together," which became the title track, and features the line,"We're all in this thing together, walking the line between faith and fear." Her father, also a minister, co-produced James Cleveland's "Sit Down Servant."</p><p>"These songs are part of my repertoire forever," Lynn says. "'I Hope You Dance,' a totally mainstream country thing, was wonderful to record and make our own. There's almost no electric — there's lap steel on one song — and it's just very sparsely and intimately produced.</p><p>"It was truly wild to me that as I made my first non-original album, the songs that were chosen were exactly the songs I needed."</p><p>Eliza Lynn performs at The Purple Onion in Saluda at 8 p.m. Saturday and at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Hendersonville at 8:30 and 11 a.m. Sunday. For more information visit www.elizalynn.com.</p>